Effexor: ticket to Hell? Maybe, but it’s one hell of a toboggan ride.
I've been hanging out on the Effexor forum on crazymeds.org, and I have to say, Effexor just seems evil (pronounced: "evieeel") to its core. Not that I believe in some outdated, superstitious concept of "good" and "evil" (except for, of course, The Force and The Dark Side); but in all seriousness, this drug just does seemingly evil things. Everyone I've talked to who's used it, hates the damn drug to death.
Not only that, but the side effects that are listed as "freaky rare" side effects on crazymed's Effexor page--while "freaky" in the sense of being fucking freaky side effects--sure as hell don't seem all that "rare" to me. Keep in mind, these are side effects that are denied to even exist by everyone in the medical community (let alone the drug manufacturer).
Take alcohol abuse. There is no proven correlation between taking Effexor and abusing alcohol, but a whole lot of Effexor patients (myself included) seem to have interesting stories about alcohol.
Here's mine: when I was on the maximum dose of Effexor (375mg/day), I started drinking like crazy, every night. I went from drinking 1-2 beers a day to drinking 7-8-9-10 beers every day, and on weekends I'd take that plus a healthy snoot of whiskey or vodka or whatever I could find (As Lyle said, "I call any bottle that has a handle").
For the first time in my life, I was hiding my drinking: telling my wife I was working late and instead going to the bar; telling people I was drinking less than I was; going to different bars all the time so as to not become a "regular". It was pretty pathetic, and this went on for months until last October, when the overdrinking finally got the better of me and I ended up in a detox unit.
Was it the Effexor making me drink? Was it my own damn fault? Or a combination? It's probably impossible to know but my best guess is door number 3. Here's where things get interesting, though: when I checked out the Effexor message board on crazymeds, I couldn't believe the number of people struggling with drinking while on Effexor--and even more concerning, they had the same alcohol-related symptoms as me.
These symptoms include:
- The feeling or perception that one needs to drink, even at odd times of the day. I found myself saying stuff like, "God, I can hardly wait to get out of the office and get like 5 beers in me." This is just not like me at all.
- The inability to stop drinking once you get started. Your ability to "have one or two beers and call it a night" seems to be severely reduced.
- The ability to drink large amounts of alcohol without getting "smashed." Friends may comment about your increased drinking capacity.
- No hangovers. Seriously. And I always have hangovers. But when I was on a huge dose of Effexor, nothing.
- This is not limited purely to alcohol consumption, but: a general decrease in the ability to make good decisions, or spontaneously making bad decisions with little thought to consequence or even any real regret afterwards. I suspect that the overdrinking in itself is a major component in this breakdown in rationale and ethics.
Now, you run into one or two people who have a similar story, then it's no big deal. Once you start to run into more people with the same deal, you start asking yourself what the hell is going on.
Somebody needs to do a real scientific study to determine if there is a correlation between Effexor and alcohol abuse, and put this issue to rest.
Another thing I noticed: most of the people struggling with their drinking were, like me, on big doses of Effexor (more than 250mg/day). For myself, once I decreased my Effexor dose from 375mg/day down to 150mg/day, my need for booze went away. Of course, this also happened right after getting out of detox, so it's impossible to know if this was because of the Effexor decrease or getting "scared straight."
Then, there's the whole Effexor withdrawal (or, if you're Wyeth, you call it "discontinuation syndrome" to make it sound less icky). This manifests itself mainly in wild mood swings, coupled with a persistent dizziness (and all the little gifts that come along with that, including nausea), and the aforementioned "brain shivers," which is one of those terms that is ingenious in its ability to accurately describe the phenomena it represents.
As crazymeds puts it, "(Effexor has) the absolute worst discontinuation syndrome of an antidepressant. Effexor is a medication people utterly loathe to have taken. It is not uncommon for someone to change doctors during or immediately after Effexor discontinuation."
I didn't change doctors, I just gave up on the damn quacks all together. I'm not advising that anyone else do that, but for me it was the best move.
May 30th, 2006 at 6:28 am
Hey Carter, this is Bokonon.
I’ve recently started taking Lexapro. I’m pretty sure I took Effexor a long time ago and hated it. Made me feel numb and overall kind of fuzzy all the time. I like the Lexapro, though.
May 30th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Glad the lexapro is working well for you. As for myself, I’m going completely off the bastard things–I’ve had enough screwing with my head.
I’m going to try get off my fat ass and start blogging about this change and how i’m dealing with things now. Wait, I guess i would have to get on my fat ass to do that. Anyway.
Thanks for the comment, good to hear from you and find out that you’re doing ok.
–booj
May 30th, 2006 at 11:54 am
there is no such thing as good? man, you are crazy.
May 30th, 2006 at 11:58 am
There is such a thing as relative good (ie: good for me; good for society), just not intrinsic good (or evil).
Except you. You’re intrinsically good, sally.
–booj
May 30th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
I’m good too!
May 30th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Yeah, I fought against taking them forever, but combination of stress and hate at my job finally pushed me over.
May 31st, 2006 at 10:38 am
Yeah. I hear you. Far be it from me to take my experiences and try to apply them to someone else. All this stuff, it’s just so personal how it hits you. Not personal meaning “private,” meaning “completely unique to you.”
That said, the scary thing to me is how little is _really_ known about how these drugs function, in contrast to how the medical community portrays its knowledge. I mean, when I take a drug for ADHD and it starts messing with my prostate (first-hand experience; drug is Stratterra (be afraid, be very afraid)), i find myself thinking, “holy crap they really have no clue–NO CLUE–what these drugs are doing to your body.”
I think, 100 years from now, they will look back upon this as the dark ages of psychiatric drug therapy. Look at it now, you go in to the doctor and tell him you feel all screwy, and what does the doctor do? He keeps throwing different cocktails at you until something sticks (ie: until you quit complaining about stuff).
I think I’m ranting now. Can I chalk that up to Effexor withdrawal too?
May 31st, 2006 at 9:53 pm
If I had known what Effexor would have done to me I would never have consented to take it. Then there is this weird side effect aptly named “Delayed Ejaculation Syndrome.” That doesn’t show up in a lot of the literature about the med.
I think that Pharmeceutical companys all empyloy monkeys wearing pants to do all of their “reasearch. Thanks for the post.
June 2nd, 2006 at 7:26 am
“Delayed Ejaculation Syndrome.” So you have your ejaculation like 5 hours after you’re done having sex? That must be inconvenient.
–booj
June 3rd, 2006 at 1:44 am
relativism is retarded. to say that EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE or that NOTHING IS ABSOLUTE is a fucking absolute statement. I get this feeling that people who love relativism are thinking that the rest of us are walking around with rubber stamps, labelling things NIGGERS and HONKEYS, when in fact we are QUITE AWARE of the SPECTRUM and GRADATIONS between niggers and honkeys. things are black, white, and various in between colors such as high yellow and octaroon.
June 5th, 2006 at 3:19 am
I didn’t say EVERYTHING is relative, sally. But there are things that are, clearly. For example, in the physical world time is relative (thank you mr. einstein).
“good” and “evil” are relative concepts because they require an observer to judge them, and all observers have different ideas about what “good” and “evil” are. Even seemingly clear-cut moral standards fall under closer examination. “It’s wrong to kill someone.” Fair enough, but most of us make exceptions for killing someone who is trying to kill us; but then if that “someone” is an agent of authority (police officer, etc), things become murkier. You see where i’m going with this.
I get the feeling that we really think the same way on this point, but either you’re playing devil’s advocate (which, I might add, is a part you play with a high degree of skill), or the disagreement is over something much more trivial, ie semantics. The term “relative” bothers you I realize, but from what I know about you, it’s hard for me to picture you as a moral absolutionist (ie: there is an absolute moral code or set of ethics, independent of culture and regardless of observer). Then again, PROVE ME WRONG, sally, PROVE ME WRONG.
I love going toe-to-toe with Sally on the forums. Just like old times!
–booj
June 5th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
the problem is that while I feel that the RULES OF RIGHT AND WRONG have variations depending on the situation I do believe in EVIL and GOOD. for instance, hitler is evil. I don’t see how he could be just sort of bad with some good thrown in. He might have started out that way but once he went down the path of DESTROYING AN ENTIRE RACE OF PEOPLE he negated any good left in him. even if you could convince me that he was a nice guy to his pets or something the genocide itself was evil. it doesn’t matter who the observer is in that case, the observers who thought that it was a good idea to wipe out some jews are WRONG.
I’m not a moral absolutionist. I just think relativism is gay. Too many people use it as a excuse to be assholes or to let other people get away with being assholes.
June 7th, 2006 at 10:48 am
But Hitler didn’t think he was evil; he thought he was saving the world.
CALL ME THE UNDERTAKER, BECAUSE I HAVE YOU IN A BOX!!!!!11 WOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!
–booj
June 7th, 2006 at 11:09 am
Actually, I don’t have you in a box.
I think, we all realize (well maybe not all of us, but anyway) that there’s a relative notion to ethics that requires an observer. Even in your Hitler example, imagine an alien race coming to earth and finding out about Hitler for the first time. Would they cosider him ethically abhorrent? Possibly, but it’s just as likely they would see what he did as something that was perhaps bad for humans; and trying to go beyond that, they’d find it impossible to judge the ethics of the particular acts themselves.
I think most of us subscribe to some sort of absolute concept of right and wrong in order to give us sort of ethical shorthand notation: it’s easier to say, “this is absolutely morally wrong (or right),” than it is to have to drag in all the complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty that necessarily follows when you make an argument that uses relativistic ethics as its premise.
–booj
June 8th, 2006 at 2:41 am
while I stab you repeatedly in the face I am just saying to myself that OH YES I’M A GOOD GIRL, SO SO GOOD and therefore I AM GOOD!! OH WIN!! that’s retarded. how can HITLER HIMSELF be the OBSERVER, of course he’s going to think that everything he does is super awesome. there is no way you’re going to convince me that THE OBSERVER is where it’s at anyway, because people who think that genocide is awesome (or a myth cooked up by jews to create sympathy for themselves) are WRONG, and THEY SMELL BAD and are STUPID and possibly like to have sex with their own mothers, be they from space, germany or detroit.
some observers are color blind but that doesnt stop red and green from being completely different colors from brown.
June 8th, 2006 at 9:26 am
It’s interesting you use color, because really, the more you study color, the more you realize that color is “in the eye of the beholder,” as they say.
From Wikipedia’s entry on color:
Although, here I must conceed that regardless of observer, an apple certainly absorbs different wavelenghts of light than a banana. So your point is well-taken.
In addition, I’d like to conceed on the Hitler point, because I don’t think it was a very good one. I think my point after that is a lot stronger.
While we’re talking about things that exist “only in our mind,” I find it interesting that mathematics–a subject that would seem, on the surface, to exist regardless of observer–is entirely an abstract concept which requires an observer in the first place.
If you put three apples on a table, there’s no inherit “three” apples until somebody counts them. There’s no adding one apple to get four, until somebody adds them. Clearly, mathematics is an activity that requires an observer.
But that’s where the similarities between mathematics and ethics begin to fade. Mathematics, while requiring an observer, at least comes out the same to all observers: we can be assured that when our alien (who I mention in my previous comment) puts three GhXplonZdars on a table, and proceeds to counts them, he will also get the number three (even though he calls the number three “BoquMXWQpppr”).
Ethics, on the other hand, is different. Your point is well-taken: when you commit an act, it doesn’t matter necessarily what YOU think about whether it is ethically abhorrent or not; but the question then becomes to whom does it matter, and what makes the act ethically abhorrent (or acceptable)?
Philosophers have struggled with this point since philosophy has existed, and it’s unwise to think we’ll unravel the mystery here on this forum, or even come to a consensus.
That said, If we go back to the beginning of human existence, and try to imagine how things like “ethics” came about, we may find a clue. Obviously, animals are ethically ambiguous. At the very least, making an ethical decision requires you to understand that you exist and that you can make decisions in the first place–these are skills that animals simply do not have. As we transformed from walking monkeys with no concept of self (and therefore ethics) into beings that understood our decisions have consequences both on ourselves and those around us, all of a sudden things became dramatically more complicated.
It’s an interesting game to try to imagine how these early beings with a new sense of self, and troubled by all the added complexity this new talent provided, would begin to postulate what makes something right or wrong. At this point, they would already be teaching their children what is right and wrong: don’t put your hand in a fire because it is hot, don’t eat too much of the food because then your brothers and sisters will go hungry.
“Could it be,” you can imagine this early man wonder, “that there are other parents–parents of us all–that are ultimately responsible for our existence, and that these parents have rules for us as well?” This neatly solves two problems: it explains both why we are here, and what we should do. If we don’t act in an ethically responsible way, then out etheral parents will be mad with us, and punish us–perhaps with a hurricaine, or a drought.
This is the beginning of ethical thought, and its interesting to note that this argument is still very much in existence today.
My point here is not to say, “this is what the caveman believed, so it’s obviously preposterous.” It’s to point out that ethics began once we realized a sense of self; and that therefore ethics, like mathematics, is necessarily a construct of the mind.
The difference is, unlike mathematics, it’s very unlikely that what we find ethically acceptable will match what our alien finds.
Thanks for the discussion, sales.
–booj
June 27th, 2006 at 1:24 am
I was searching for some ‘getting off Effexor’ info and came across your blog :). I have been on Effexor for 20 months or so now. I was up to 267.5mg at one point. I’m down to 75mg. Unfortunately, I’m getting off it on my own - my family doctor doesn’t think I should get off it so she won’t ‘help’ me, and my psychiatrist just tries to keep prescribing drug after drug to ‘augment the therapy’ - basically Effexor is not working for me and since it’s so hard to get off, let’s just add a bunch of things to it! I’ve had a few friends recently start Effexor and before they filled their prescriptions, I warned them! One friend filled it anyway and now, trying to get pregnant, is trying to get off it and running into everything I warned her about. I bet she’ll listen to me next time! Anyway, it’s nice to read about someone else who’s gone through it…
June 27th, 2006 at 6:38 am
Tara:
Thanks for the post, it’s always nice to hear from others who have struggled like me.
The idea of augmenting discontinuation of Effexor with another drug is something that I used with success myself. In the first place, I started 30mg of Remeron from the time i slowly decreased my Effexor dosage from 375mg/day to 75 mg/day. I then dropped from 30mg to 15mg and continued the Effexor discontinuation. If I had to do it again, I’d stay on 30mg all the way until going completely off Effexor…those last 33.5mgs of Effexor are a BASTARD.
In the second place, as I point out in this post, I also used a certain non-perscription non-over-the-counter (if you catch my drift) drug to help stabilize my mood from the Effexor and Remeron withdrawal. You may have experience with this drug from college. This was particularly helpful to me in the last few months of discontinuation — much better help than the Remeron ever was, in my opinion.
Another drug I used that was a GREAT help with the dizziness and brain shocks was over-the-counter Dramamine, sometimes known as Gravol. There is also another one called Bonnine or Dramamine Less Drowsy which is also very helpful, and doesn’t make you quite so sleepy.
And now the caveat emptor: what works for me may not work for you, in fact you can just about guarantee that it won’t work exactly the same for you as it did for me.
Some of the things I’m not comfortable with doing include: encouraging an individual to take or discontinue a drug (perscription, over-the-counter, or otherwise); encouraging an individual to see or leave a psychiatrist; or even simply talking with authority about how these drugs work and interact with your brain. One of my problems with these drugs is they seem to affect everybody’s brain quite differently, which makes sense because everyone’s brain is different.
I would also advise you to listen to and understand your doctor’s position on the matter. At the same time, don’t totally submit to your doctor, either. Don’t feel ashamed or embarassed to challenge your doctor. If your doctor won’t admit how little he or she knows about how these drugs function, then be as cautious with your doctor as you would with any person who goes about their business pretending to know more than they do.
Thanks again so much for the comments. I hope to write more on this topic in the future, so I hope you check back.
–booj
June 27th, 2006 at 7:11 am
Oh one more thing, Tara:
I’d be cautious about warning your friends not to take Effexor just as I’d be cautious about encouraging friends to take a drug.
You have to remember, your friends’ depression is likely not at all the same as your own. I have talked to plenty of people — plenty — who for them, Effexor was just the ticket. Sure, they had all the crappy side-effects too, but for them it worked out in the “win” column in the end.
So I guess what I’m saying is, while what works for me may not work for you, by the same token what works for you may not work for your friends. God forbid, you would talk a friend into discontinuing a medication, and they do so with no drug augmentation whatsoever, and they have a huge mood crash and something terrible happens. This is serious stuff, people can die.
I don’t mean to get preachy here at all — sorry if it came off that way. I just worry about affecting those around me negatively, and I’m sure you do as well.
Take care;
–booj
June 27th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
Hi booj,
Both friends I talked to who were about to take Effexor I warned them for 2 reasons. In both cases, neither had ever tried an anti-depressant and Effexor was their doctors’ first choice because ‘it’s usually the most effective’. Second, both knew they wanted to get pregnant again in about 6 months and would need to go off it. My friend who is taking it asked her doctor about it and her doctor told her she wouldn’t have a problem getting off it, there is no evidence to state otherwise. My other major warning to this friend was money - she had drug coverage but had to pay it out upfront and get reimbursed. Effexor is the most expensive AD! Her husband has Crohns disease and sometimes goes weeks without taking his medication because they don’t have the money to refill the prescription. For this major reason I warned her - Effexor is not a drug you can just stop taking for days because you can’t refill the prescription. She forgot to take her pills for 2 days once and suddenly realized what I was talking about - she felt like she was dying! Now she’s not sure how to get off it…
As for me, I have on main reason for trying to get off it that my doctors don’t quite understand. I can’t afford to stay on it! My husband’s benefits cover 80% but even the 20% we have to cover is too much right now… Between me, him, and my kids, we have about $800 worth of monthly prescriptions. If someone could give me some free pills, then hey, I’d continue to take it. But it’s too expensive. My son goes to speech therapy weekly, at $120/hr… add up all of medical costs and throw rent in, and it’s more money than we make in a month. My other reason though is I’ve come to realize my depression is much more situational than chemical. My doctors calls my depression ‘treatment-resistant’. I was on high doses of lithium which would help for 2 weeks, then he’d have to increase the dose. I tried Wellbutrin, it was awful. He gave me a few other prescriptions and same thing. If I was lucky, I would feel a bit better for 2-3 weeks, then I’d ‘fall’ again. But it’s always the same thing - money. We are quickly going broke - and that is what brings me down. No matter how many drugs I’m taking, when the end of the month comes and I’m trying to figure out how we’re going to pay our rent and eat the next month, I can’t drag myself out of bed! When money isn’t such an issue, I feel good. I keep a journal and looking back it’s always the same. When I’m at my best, we have enough money to pay the bills. When I’m at my worst, we don’t know how we’re going to keep a roof over our head! And until some doctor finds a pill that is going to pay my bills, I don’t think trying drug after drug is ever going to help me long term.
Tara
June 27th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
Tara:
Thanks so much for the well-thought-out, reasoned reply. It’s very encouraging to me personally to hear your reasons for advising your friends to stay away from Effexor, as well as your reasons for trying to discontinue your own use. You appear to me, to be a person who thinks intelligently about these things and would never put your friend or yourself at undue risk in these matters. Your friends are lucky to have you!
I’m absolutely shocked that a psychiatrist would perscribe Effexor first over other cheaper, less drastic antidepressants. It absolutely boggles the mind — it is completely outrageous and this “doctor” should be read his or her walking papers IMMEDIATELY. Your friend very well may need a psychiatrist in her life, but this particular asshole of a physician is obviously dangerously incompetent and should be avoided.
Thanks also for telling me a little bit about your own depression and your anxiety over money. I say, “money may not buy you happiness, but it will bring you the grief for free,” which is doubly true when you don’t have enough! I wish I had some advice I could give you, but short of saying obvious things like, “you need to try to relieve this source of anxiety from your life,” I am not sure I can add much. You obviously already realize this and you also are engaged in activities to relieve this anxiety, ie: removal of expensive pharmeceuticals that you don’t need. It sounds like you are on the right track.
Once again, it was really good to hear your story and it sounds like you are a very sensible woman and I wish you well. I look forward to chatting with you again sometime — please keep in touch and let me know how these battles go.
–booj
June 27th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
I think the reason my friends were prescribed Effexor is because they AREN’T seeing psychiatrists - their family doctors prescribed. I know my family doctor doesn’t pretend to know the ins and outs of the various ADs - she knows a lot about a few and prescribes those - when what she had prescribed to me wasn’t working anymore, that’s when I started seeing the psychiatrist. My family doctor is great because when she doesn’t know something, she tells me and helps me find the answer, whether it’s by her researching it, or referring me to someone who does know. My friend’s doctor (who actually is in the same practice as mine), unfortunately for my friend, isn’t like that. When she asked her doctor ‘why Effexor? why not something else?’ the only answer she got was the ‘because it tends to be the most effective for the most people’. My psychiatrist on the other hand did warn me about the side effects and mentioned the withdrawal (not to the extent that I feel he should have, but he did mention it) and prescribed it to me becasue other drugs (Prozac and Paxil specifically) hadn’t worked. He said Effexor is often a miracle drug for a lot of people, but it’s a last resort when others have failed because of how hard it is to get off. I hate that any doctor will prescribe a medication without knowing the details of it…
August 17th, 2006 at 9:22 am
Hi booj,
I’ve recently tried to be a little better informed about the stuff I take on a daily basis. I’ve been off and on Effexor for about 4 years now, mostly at 75mgs a day. I had no problem getting through the withdrawl when I was dosed at 75mg a year ago- different story now … I sleep poorly, I drink too much (both are very much linked). When I’m not drinking, I feel restless and tired at the same time. Warm tingly legs and incessant ringing of my ears are two of the more recent aspects that are coloring my life :-)
I’m not that worried yet - I believe that an important part of the side effects are linked to lack of excercise and too much beer. What does bother me is the fact that the side effects seem to increase in number and severity over time (ear ringing is becoming a real pain in the ass). I wonder what they will be like in a couple of years time. At the same time, the withdrawl is becoming an issue. I recently ran out of pills and could not believe what I felt - scary.
Thing is, Effexor has worked for me. I’ve been on cipramil, an SSRI, which made me grey, no lows but no highs either. In combination with melleril, an antipsychoticum, I was a real zombie with major memory loss. I simply don’t remember anything from that period. Trazolan (Trazodone) helped me sleep a full night, but that was it, no effect on the depression. With Effexor, I’ve been able to keep the sluggishness and lethargy at bay and I don’t feel anxious or stressed that easy. Good thing is also that I’ve noticed no major personality changes, except maybe for a shorter fuse.
I’ve read your story on the alcohol with interest. I guess with me the difference will not be that obvious, because I’ve always been a drinker. I quit for three years, but that is a while ago ;-). The state you were in sounds a bit like my baseline state, if you know what I mean. I can imagine it must feel like a shock when you feel like you don’t control it the way you used to. Maybe that is also why not everyone reports the link with drink - people with prior drinking problems might simply not pick up on it. Or it is like you said linked solely to the higher doses. Anyway, I agree that the producer should investigate this before it gets out of hand.
cheers
dancing fool
April 28th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Hi and thank you for offering your encouragement to those of us suffering from Effexor. I was taking 37.5 mg for 4 mo, due to having been prescribed 10 years of Klonopin and 3 years of Ambien.
Supposedly, this was the doctor’s idea of getting me through such a rough withdraw from both. I had back surgery 3 years ago, and the Ambien helped me sleep. 10 years ago, I couldn’t sleep, giving me anxiety, so Klonopin was prescribed at 2mg. A HUGE dose! When I quit taking the Klonopin 4 months ago, my body went into complete shock. No wonder, Klonopin withdrawl. Same with Ambien. I’m a mess!
I NEVER would’ve agreed to this horrific Effexor, if I knew the withdraw from this was this awful! I should’ve done my research, though I was desperate at the time. Could’ve, would’ve, should’ve……we all know that song and dance! Now I’m tapering off the 37.5 mg. I know it’s a low dose, but I’m beyond fragile at this point. I must be extra sensitive to medication or something. I am using the “bead” method and am down to half a capsule. I sob uncontrollably, get angry at the drop of a pin, have gained 15 lbs (I’m normally 120 lbs with no effort), constantly think of food, have major brain zaps, crazy electric shocks run through my limbs, digestive problems, feel like I’m going crazy, my mind races, insomnia, gas/ bloating, tight chest, anxiety, YOU NAME IT. I feel like I need to be admitted! My poor boyfriend…he just moved in with me, or rather, “Sybil”/ “Satan’s sister”. I am desperate and scared. My boyfriend knows this isn’t me and it’s the drug, but I pray I will be back to normal in due time. This withdraw is WAY WORSE than the initial purpose of the prescribed. I am taking Benadryl throughout the day for allergies (1) and it’s semi-sedating/ making myself manageable properties. I have an emergency stash of valium, 1 mg tablets, for dire emergency. I take my Omega 3/ Fish oils 2x a day (3 each), take the pill (or what’s left of it that is) at the same time every day, drink NO caffeine, and am suffering so badly. Normally, I am such a strong person and my mind is solid as a rock. This is the closest I’ve come to losing my mind and it scares the crap out of me. Any suggestions to help me? I can’t work and I barely have the energy to leave the house. The thought of doing anything productive is overwhelming……completely opposite of me normally. I feel invisible and like I’m losing myself in this mess. Is this normal? I pray to God that this nightmare is soon over. I hope oneday I can counsel fellow sufferers as you have. You will be blessed with beautiful karma. Effexor is exhausting………..a never ending road………ugh!
May 10th, 2008 at 1:19 am
I have been on effexor for 15 years. Up till 3 months ago I was also on trazadone which I had been for well over 10 years.
I was told at the time that I would have to take these drugs for the rest of my life.
Three months ago I finally, after several months of tapering off, I shook the trazadone. I feel fine now but am working on the effexor.
I reduced the daily amount by one third about 2 months ago and will shortly decrease the amount again shortly. I do not want to ‘crash’ as so many have done in the past so am taking it very slowly.
I am 66 years of age and tired of being dependent. I am generally very healthy and hope to be drug free by the end of summer. I would just love to be zap free. Wish me luck folks……….
June 22nd, 2008 at 9:38 pm
i just started taking efexor xr and it feels crap, i think this is a serious grug and should not be taken lightly. so I’m going to stop. i don’t think it was right from the start. i really wish it would work or there was something that would help.
I think that maybe I’m not one of those people who deal well medications.
August 6th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
I am the spouse of a man who has gone off of Effexor and tried Pristique. Now that is EVIL totally insane medication he did nothing but complain of buzzing in his head and he got to be very fidgity and on edge so he decided to go off cold turkey. Well to be honest he is worse off than prior to trying all the other meds. I have to say I love Effexor, it gave me back the loving fun kind and silly man I married. With him off he is way over the top critical, angry all the time, difficult to talk or reason with and just a basic plain pain in the !!! if you get my meaning. For all the bad experiences I just wanted to say Yeah for a change. Effexor had given me back a good marriage and that wonderful guy! He actually tried around 45 different drugs before we found that Effexor was the “miricle Drug” for him, Apparently each individual takes to drugs with such variety that trying them is the only way. Its the family too who have a hard time. Thanks for letting me vent it has been a particularly hard day. We can not afford the drug right now and he is just awful.
August 10th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Effexor is very dangerous stuff. My son (19 years old) was on it for 3 months and was so high that he started self medicating on Marijuana to calm the edge.
He got so manic that we had to intern him in a Mental Health clinic for a week and has been on Antipsycotics since then..
We had a month in Hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please do your homework before Giving your child this drug.
October 20th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
You are exactly Right !! Effexor is harder to with draw from Than ” crack ” or Meth !!!!!
December 13th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I understand the withdraw from Effexor can be very difficult. But for some of us it’s a lifesaver. This drug has changed my life and helped me become more motivated, less worried and way less depressed. I am curious as to why people come off of it…is it from side effects during the time they’re taking it? I plan to be on it indefinitely.